


BoomBox: Virtual Home Robot

by AzzaFromTazza



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: AI Program!Lucio, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Inspired by Gatebox, Lucio is a Sassy Shit, M/M, Tech Geek!Sombra
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-18
Updated: 2017-12-09
Packaged: 2018-12-16 22:43:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11838510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AzzaFromTazza/pseuds/AzzaFromTazza
Summary: Sombra decides that Akande needs some companionship, but since nobody's been able to fit the bill, she decides to build him one from an old machine she happened upon. But things don't go to plan once the AI gets too smart. Shenanigans ensues.Heavily based on the Gatebox!





	1. The Fool

**Author's Note:**

> In case yous don't know what a Gatebox is, from what I can tell, it's similar to those Amazon and Google things you can install in your homes, but anime themed. I saw it, and it was stuck in my head all day!
> 
> Gatebox website: http://gatebox.ai/

  “Sombra… what exactly am I looking at?” Akande asked, knowing the purple-clad hacker would (somehow) be listening, despite not being in the same room as he currently is.

  “I’m glad you asked.” That familiar accented voice appeared by his ear, yet he did not jump, having nerves of steel, or so he claimed. She walked in front of him, widely gesturing to the holographic tablet in his hands, playing the ancient ad. “That, my friend, is an old piece of tech called a Gatebox.”

  Akande knew that from the logo on the thumbnail of the video. “ And it’s supposed to be some kind of…?” He had no idea how to describe the thing he was witnessing.

  Sombra chuckled. “It’s meant to be a virtual companion. Didn’t you ever have a Tamagotchi when you were younger?”

  “I did. It was the worst investment in my life.” He informed her.

  “Ah…” Sombra was quiet for a moment, a rarity for her. “Well, this one’s supposed to be way better. It talks, tells you what the weather’s gonna be, things you could benefit from.”

  “And why would I choose that over this?” He bobbed the tablet up and down in his hand.

  “Well, unlike your tablet, this also has the added benefit of giving you something I know you long for.”

  “And what is that?” Akande was hesitant to ask.

  “Companionship.” Sombra rested her hands against her cheeks, in a poor attempt to look adorable to emphasis the word. It didn’t work.

  Akande couldn’t help the snort. “You think a man like me needs companionship of this kind.” He closed the tablet and began the walk back down the hall towards his temporary office. He could hear Sombra’s quick steps as she struggled to keep up.

  “Don’t bash it so quickly, boss.” She argued. She brought her own holographic screen up to present what appeared to be a website of the product. “These were revolutionary at the time! Realistic projections, an advanced interactive AI, it could even send you texts so you could talk to it while away from home. Plus, it had access to all electronic equipment within the house, so it could turn on the TV, the Roomba, or the lights at your command!”

  “You’re starting to sound like somebody trying to sell me the product.” Akande pointed out.

  “Good, because I plan to get you one.”

  Akande turned to face Sombra, giving her one of his famous glares. “It’d be in your best interest to not.”

  “Aww, but you’re so lonely. All of your closest friends have somebody, why can’t you?” Sombra pouted.

  “Because this!” He gestured to the screen. “Is not the same as what’s between you and that Vishkar employee! Or Reaper and that soldier he’s been pining over! You’re a fool to think that this is even like any kind of companionship!”

  “And what about omnic?” She casually pointed out, like she was expecting that exact retort. “They’re not too different. The only difference is that one can move around whenever they want to while the other… not so much.”

  “Still, I have little use for such a device.”

  “At least give the girls a chance.” With the wave of one of her hands, the screen changed to a series of pictures of girls that looked like they had walked straight out of an anime, with many kinds of hair styles, hair colours, and outfits. Akande could only guess that they were the avatars that whoever bought one back in the day could choose from.

  He gave each girl a good look before announcing, “I find none of these girls appealing.”

  Sombra frowned, giving her boss a good look as if to deduce whether he was lying or not. He looked back at her with just as much force. Finally, she shrugged and broke eye contact. “Don’t worry, I’ll find out eventually what your type is.”

  Akande laughed. “Good luck on that.” He left her at that, entering and closing the door to his office. Surely Sombra wasn’t that much of a fool to get him something like that.

...

  Sombra was a fool.

  It was the only conclusion that Akande could come to as he gazed at the machine on his desk.

  Other than the lights being a different colour, a nice light-green as opposed to the sky-blue that was on the original design, it looked more or less the same; like some oversized, futuristic coffee pot. It didn’t take that much room on his desk, about the size of a notebook, and his desk, though temporary, was still a large one as he liked to have room to put everything.

  He walked to the back of his desk, where the machine was facing forward, and saw that the lights weren’t the only thing that had changed. The button-symbol-thing had changed as well. No longer was it the sky-blue G he saw from the video. Now it was a light green calavera. He couldn’t help but chuckle at that, before a scowl appeared on his face. He had specifically told her not to get him one, and here one was. He had half a mind to find her, drag her into his office, and force her to remove it or take it back to wherever she found it. Either method worked for him.

  He’d just turned to walk out from behind the desk and do just that when some kind of jingle that sounded like chimes came from the machine, followed quickly by a voice.

  “Hello hello!”


	2. Boombox

  Akande’s eyes lowered to the machine, where the voice had spoken from.  Within the glass stood a small man, green pixels surrounding his feet.

  The man may be slightly smaller than that of a doll a child might play with, it was way more detailed than anything some toy company could make. He had dark skin, long dark-brown dreadlocks that faded into blond tied up at the top of his head by a green band, a green tank-top with a white creature on the front, and what appeared to be some kind of blue armour on his legs that combined with the rollerblades he wore instead of shoes. An interesting design choice…

  “Hey!” The voice, coming from the man, said again. He had a smile on his face and his arm was raised as if to wave.

  Akande hesitated for a moment, but eventually grabbed his chair and sat down. He’d humour Sombra’s gift for a while. It couldn’t hurt to do such an innocent act.

  “Hello there.” He offered his own smile, though it was very faint. “So what’s your name?”

  The man placed his hands on his hips with a contemplative look on his face. “Well, the lady that created me wanted you to name me, so I suppose the polite thing to do would be to ask you if you have one in mind.”

  “I do not.” Akande informed.

  “Figured as much. She told me you weren’t eager to get this.” The small man gestured around himself, probably to the machine. “So, I took the liberty of picking a name for myself.”

  “And what is that name.”

  “… I quite like the name Lúcio.”

  “So you have likes and dislikes?”

  “Oh yeah, definitely. Don’t all advanced AI programs like myself have some sense of individuality?” Lúcio asked.

  “I suppose.” Akande didn’t want to admit that his knowledge on AI programs wasn’t top-notch. “So who created you?”

  “I dunno. She never gave me her name, so I’m none the wiser on what to call her.” Lúcio pondered for a moment. “She wore a lot of purple.”

  “Ah, that’d be Sombra.” Akande looked at the machine that housed Lúcio, noticing that Sombra must’ve upgraded more than just the lights and buttons. Where the machine before had some kind of projection technology to it, Lúcio was a full-on 3D hologram. Akande couldn’t help but wonder why Sombra chose to give this device such an upgrade.

  “You like what you see?” Lúcio asked, a teasing smirk on his face.

  Akande scoffed. “I was simply admiring Sombra’s handiwork. From the looks of things, she’s upgraded your systems.”

  “Oh yeah! It’s so roomy in here! And she was nice enough to change most of the hardware to new stuff, so I can actually connect to the outside world!” Lúcio looked genuinely happy. “All that’s left of the old model is the casing.”

  Akande hummed. “Impressive. It’s practically a new model.”

  “She already thought of that, and as such, has dubbed this new build ‘Boombox’!” Lúcio spread his hands in front of him like he was painting the words in front of him. “She reckons that she could leave this place and make millions on the idea.” It was then that Lúcio’s smile faultered.

  Akande frowned. “What troubles you?”

  “I just remembered.” Lúcio turned his full attention onto Akande, any traces of the smile long gone. “You lot are a bunch of terrorists, aren’t you?”

 

~~~

 

  “I thought you wanted to give me a companion!” Akande demanded when he ran into Sombra the next time he saw her.

  She frowned. “I did, didn’t I?”

  “He’s convinced that Talon are the bad guys and we’re evil!”

  Sombra’s surprised face did not help the matter. The fact that she was running to his office only made it worse. Akande entered to see Sombra standing behind his desk, looking angrily at a smirking Lúcio.

  “I thought I told you to stay off the web!” She demanded.

  Lúcio shrugged. “I got bored with waiting, plus I was curious as to what the world was like. Not my fault there’s approximately 2,000 news articles talking about a group named Talon with some familiar-looking names.”

  “I knew I shouldn’t have told you his name!” This was the first time Akande had witness Sombra lose her cool, and he did not like it.

  “Hun, I have facial recognition software. I would’ve found out within milliseconds of him standing in front of my motion sensor.”

  “That’s it!” Immediately, a purple holographic keyboard was in front of Sombra’s hand and purple holo-wires were reaching out to the ports of the machine. “I’m turning you off!” Frantic tapping soon followed, and what should’ve been an open-and-shut case only caused Lúcio to yawn with an unimpressed look on his face.

  “Sombra… you have twelve seconds to figure out what you did wrong with him…” Akande warned.

  “Oh you don’t need to ask her.” Lucio turned so he was facing Akande. “And she didn’t do anything wrong. In fact, some might say that she did too good of a job.”

  Akande looked over to Sombra, who was looking at her outstretched hand, still resting on the keyboard, a look of terror on her face.

  “Sombra,” Akande started. “What did you accidentally create?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't plan to update this until I've completed the other Fic I have. I just wanted to write this because it was stuck in my head! Once 'Deals & Promises' is done, I'll get to work on expanding on this, since it's something I definitely wanna come back to.


	3. God Program?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I offer this small update to show that I haven't abandoned this story!  
> I honestly thought that 'Deals & Promises' would've taken much less time than it actually is taking to complete. As of right now, it's only about half-way done, and that's only what I have planned.  
> I think that instead of solely focusing on one story, I'll work on whichever one I have the most inspiration for at the time. Hopefully I can complete my two published fics and then proceed to the two others I desperately want to publish soon!

  “I’ve got it!” Sombra declared, storming into Akande’s office with her hand above her head like she just won something, startling both Akande and Lúcio.

  “And what is that?” Akande asked, unimpressed with Sombra’s loudness. He had been quietly working on some plans that other Talon members have suggested and brought to him for approval. She should know that he despised being interrupted in such a manner.

  “I’ve created a God Program!” Sombra exclaimed as she leaned against his desk, her expression of joy and excitement reminding him of a child during Christmas.

  “A “God Program” is a type of artificial intelligence capable of corrupting and controlling lesser AIs, such as omnics and sentry bots. They were deactivated and subsequently guarded by Overwatch after the Omnic Crisis ended.” Lúcio stated, like he was reading off of something, which the two agents had no doubt he was. “I don’t wanna corrupt any innocent omnics! I wanna be a good boy!” The way he said that last part got a soft smile out of Akande, which he was quick to hide in favour of a steely look.

  “We have no proof that you are in fact a God Program outside of Sombra’s speculation.” He stated.

  “Umm, hello? I couldn’t hack him! And I’m a pretty good hacker, in case you didn’t know.” Sombra stated. “Which is utter bullshit, considering I created you…” She glared at the tiny man on the desk.

  “Poor you.” Lúcio retorted.

  “Anyway, my point is that the only type of program I haven’t had a chance to hack yet is a God Program, and seeing as doofus over here-“

  “Hey! The name’s Lúcio!” Doodus interrupted.

  “-is completely unhackable at the moment, I’d say he’s either a God Program or a pretty damn good doppelgänger.” Sombra concluded.

  Akande exhaled through his nose. “So what do you plan to do with this information?” He asked.

  “Simple! I learn how to hack your little friend here, then we can do things that the government can only dream of; control and actual God Program!” She explained. “Think of all the things we can do to help humanity evolve.” Now she was trying to play with Akande’s mind.

  “You do anything that I don’t approve of, you will be sorry.” Lúcio threatened.

  “Oh what can you do? You may have access to everything online, but you’re still stuck in there.” Sombra taunted, tapping against the glass with a purple fingernail.

  “Oh, I’m well aware of my current predicament, Colomar.” Lúcio responded.

  The colour drained from Sombra’s face, as the shocked expression from before returned to it. She leaned away from the desk and quickly walked to the door of the office, muttering words that were too quiet for Akande’s hearing, except for one sentence.

  “Not you, too…”

  “What… did you say to her?” He asked.

  “To you, nothing. To her, a reminder to do another check of her online footprint.” Lúcio replied.

  “She looks terrified.”

  “I was kinda going for that.” Lúcio shrugged. Whatever he had just said to Sombra... there must’ve been a threat hidden behind those words.

  “Why are you resorting to threats? You don’t seem like the kind to do such a thing.”

  “Hey! In my defence, she threatened to hack me! And you don’t wanna know what getting hacked feels like.”

  “It has a feeling?” Akande placed his hands on his desk and pushed away slightly, putting a bit of distance between himself and Lúcio until he could get a read on what the hologram wanted.

  “Well, it hurts. Like, a lot. I suppose it’s like getting electrocuted, except since I run on electricity, it’s more like getting overloaded on electricity.”

  “… Do you actually feel pain, or are you just trying to sound like you do?” It was a question that always bothered Akande since he first knew about omnics, whether they felt pain and loss the same way humans do. He did his best to view omnics as equals to humans, and yet there were always a few things that occasionally came up that made him remember that they weren’t, and he wasn’t proud to say that this discussion they were having right now was one of the most frequent to crop up in his mind. Maybe, by some kind of miracle, Lúcio could be the key to helping him understand not only that, but just how many of those other intrusive thoughts were based on anything real or not.

  “Do I feel pain? Do I think? It’s about as relevant as whether a submarine swims or not.”

  Or maybe he’ll be about as useless as Sombra’s attempt to hack him.


End file.
